Awakening
by Draconious
Summary: A man awakes to discover all is not as it seems. After awakening, he must rescue his true love, still in the Matrix. Please read and Review!
1. Dreamscape

This is my first fanfiction. I started by writing a character story for a Matrix role-playing game my friend was running. The game flopped, but the character was so interesting that I had to write it out. I've written a little bit of fiction before, but never for anyone else to see, so there will be revisions as I realize what I wrote sounds worse than I intended it too. :') Some would say that this sounds a lot like the Matrix itself, but it seems to me that anyone who finds out about the matrix and is eventually removed would follow some basic events. For example, there is first contact, weird stuff, what is the matrix, oh that's the matrix, and finally running from agents and removal. Its what you put in to flesh out your character and make the story unique and not another NEO clone that is important! Thanks Draconious  
  
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Awakening - Chapter One - Dreamscape  
  
Lightning flashes blind as thunder crashes and the wind howls. Looking around, nothing is visible but the bare skeletons of destroyed cities and debris. No sign of humanity or habitation exist. Looking up, a flying machine swoops past, as a mechanical thing on eight insect-like legs climbs over the debris towards you, reaching with grasping claws...  
  
"Ahhh!" James shouted as he awoke from yet another nightmare. This was the third night in a row that he had had the same dream, and it always ended the same. Shaking the sweat from his shaggy brown hair, he climbed from his bed and stumbled into the shower. Face down with the hot water pouring on the back of his head, he began to feel a little better.  
  
"Too late to get anymore sleep," he said to himself. "Early breakfast it is then." Dressing in a pair of gray dress pants and a white button down shirt, he grabbed a bagel and headed to the door. Opening it, he was greeted by a flash of thunder and sheets of rain.  
  
"Of course.." Shaking his head he grabbed his overcoat and an umbrella before heading to his garage. The drive into New York was a long one from the suburbs, but if he left early he might get to the office early without hitting that much traffic. Driving across the bridge to Stanton Island, he was shaken by the look of the skyscrapers against the gray, cloudy sky. *Just like the dream.* he thought.  
  
Shaking it off, he drove into the parking garage and began his three-block hike to his building. Even after leaving early, the traffic was already a nightmare. He even managed to get sloshed by a passing truck, drenching what wasn't protected by his coat. Sighing, he entered the revolving doors and went to the elevators.  
  
Ding! The elevator doors opened and he stepped on, next to a man in a black suit. Not unusual in a business environment, but something was strange about this guy. He had black pants, a black coat, a black tie, and black sunglasses on, regardless of the dark and dismal day outside. In his right ear he had a wired earpiece, like the FBI always used on the television. James studiously ignored the man and pushed the button for the 15th floor.  
  
*The elevator moves very slow when your in it with someone with whom you don't wish to speak*, James observed. Trying not to look at the man, he studied his own reflection in the mirrored doors. Expensive dress shoes, probably ruined by the rain. Gray dress pants, wet to the shin. White dress shirt with gray vest, and a gray blazer, crumpled by his drenched overcoat. His long brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail, his one rebellion against the stereotypical image of the accountant.  
  
His friends in high school would never have guessed he would have chosen this profession. He had chaffed in college about how boring the MBA program was. However, when he was offered the large salary and a luxury car, it was very hard to pass up. His natural skill with numbers made Accounting easy to him, allowing him to do calculations that the other accountants needed their computers to do for them. Some would say that he was a prodigy, a natural lighting calculator. Once on a dare, he gave Pi to the 12 digit, in his head. That was just showing off, though.  
  
Looking back up into the elevator doors, he was surprised to see that the man in the black suit was studying him, as well. It was right when James was going to say something that the elevator stopped on the 10th floor and the strange man got off. Shaking his head, the doors closed and the elevator continued to its destination.  
  
The office was empty when he arrived almost 2 hours early. He had some things to finish up, stuff he should have finished the last few days. It was almost 8 o'clock when others started to arrive. By then, James' desk was cleared off and squared away. Goofing off on his computer until his appointment arrived at 10, he did some internet browsing, not looking for anything in particular.  
  
Finding an interesting website on "JFK" assassination theories, he read about how 2 guys and 1 alien were responsible for the supposedly 1 man job. Shaking his head, James turned to the next article and read.  
  
Matrix.. The word struck a cord within him. By accident he had stumbled upon a web page written by some guy who was ranting about conspiracies. He was saying something along the lines that everything was one giant conspiracy, that nothing was truly real. James was just getting interested in what this guy had to say when his 10 o'clock arrived and he quickly closed his browser down.  
  
The gentleman's name was Robert Wilkinson. He was running a private business and a non profit organization, and his private accountant had just had a breakdown. Working with him for 3 hours, James secured his business and entered his information into the company's database. Finishing up, he decided it was time for lunch.  
  
Heading down to the company cafeteria, James saw her. Every office has one. You know, the one worker of the whole department who just doesn't seem to fit in? Of all the stuffy, stodgy accountants (James reluctantly included himself into this category) she was the one exception to the rule. Standing five feet 3 inches, Shelley Thompson was in a word stunning. Coming from different sides of the building, James had probably only said 3 words to her. (15th floor, please.) Long wavy red hair, creamy skin and jade green eyes. She was a sight to behold.  
  
James was staring rather unabashedly at her when she turned and spoke to him.  
  
"The Matrix has you." With those words, James' world came crashing down around him. Visions of his nightmares, the destroyed city, the debris, and the attacking crab-like robot returned to him in a flash.  
  
"Huh?" he said, confused and disoriented.  
  
"I asked if you were James Mason." She was looking at him like he was crazy. *I know that she didn't ask that. I know it!* She was still looking at him like he was really crazy. *Okay, maybe she did ask me that.*  
  
"Oh, yeah. I'm James Mason." *Smooth, real Smooth.*  
  
"Hi, I'm Shelley Thompson. I was told that I needed to find you. My computer's on the fritz and Technical said that it would be tomorrow before they could even be on the floor. I have some reports I must get done so I was hoping you could help me..." She blushed as she rambled on. James thought that she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.  
  
"Uh, yeah. I don't have any appointments this afternoon, so I could be by right after lunch. I could meet you, or we could eat together and I could come with you to your office afterwards." Now was his turn to blush.  
  
"I'd like that." With that, she extended her arm and he looped his through it and they walked to the line to select their lunch.  
  
The lunch had gone great, and they were talking like old friends. He still couldn't believe he was talking to the hottest girl in the office like she was . a person., which he was coming to find out that she was. She had been trying to make friends with the mostly older male staff, yet most of them had either found her unapproachable, or waayyy too approachable. After their hour lunch, they were already fast friends, laughing at inadequate company policy and stuffy bosses.  
  
"Well," Shelley said, "Let's get to my office so you can take a look at my computer and see if you can fix it. Maybe if I can finish up the reports early. we could go out for dinner?" James fought to keep his jaw from dropping. Was he being asked out by a girl he could only dream about?  
  
"Okay, we could do that. lets go." With that they headed to the elevators.  
  
TBC. 


	2. Chatroom Confessions

This is my first fanfiction. I started by writing a character story for a Matrix role-playing game my friend was running. The game flopped, but the character was so interesting that I had to write it out. I've written a little bit of fiction before, but never for anyone else to see, so there will be revisions as I realize what I wrote sounds worse than I intended it too. :')  
  
Some would say that this sounds a lot like the Matrix itself, but it seems to me that anyone who finds out about the matrix and is eventually removed would follow some basic events. For example, there is first contact, weird stuff, what is the matrix, oh that's the matrix, and finally running from agents and removal. Its what you put in to flesh out your character and make the story unique and not another NEO clone that is important! Thanks Draconious  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------- Awakening - Chapter 2- Chatroom Confessions  
  
*Four months have passed since I first talked to her*, he mused. Shelley was taking a shower and James was watching her through the glazed glass doors. He had moved in with her about 3 weeks ago because she had a much nicer apartment than his small one in the suburbs. It also saved him a lot of money not to have to take the 45-minute commute in the morning. *I have spent most of my time with her since then. I wouldn't have believed that I could fall so completely in love so quickly.* James had always been a loner, but now that he felt what companionship felt like, he wasn't sure he ever wanted it to end.  
  
After dating for about 2 months he had told her that she was very special to him. He had hesitated to use the "L" word, as he felt that that word was thrown around way too often in this society. She had understood what he meant and gave him a generous hug afterwards. That night, he spent the night at her place for the first time. They had a lot in common, they enjoyed the same things, and their personalities complimented each other's. Many of the guys at the office gave him trouble about dating her, though, asking for pictures and details about their love life. He just ignored them and by now they were beginning to stop.  
  
There hadn't been a repeat of the incident where he had heard her say the confusing words, "The Matrix has you." What was the Matrix? Why did it sound so familiar? Other than a conspiracy website he had stumbled across a few months ago, he had no idea what it was. Something to do with Linear Mathematics and numbers, that much he understood. Why was it that the word Matrix made him have flashbacks of his dreams, which he always had trouble remembering during the day.  
  
For awhile he thought that he was going insane. His dreams continued nightly, something that he had already explained to Shelley prior to their staying together. She was understanding and learned not to awake him before he awoke. (Last time that happened to him, he was confused for a few minutes as to who he was.) He finally came to the conclusion that something out there was not quite right. He felt as though there was something right around the corner, that he could almost find it, but it was just out of reach. The only thing that kept him remotely sane was Shelley. She was his ground.  
  
After moving in, he had set up his computer system in the Living area of their apartment, where he would stay up late at night, trying to find more information on the "Matrix" or anything to do with stuff like his nightmares. He had never again found the website that had the article about the Matrix on it again. By the time he had thought to check the history on his computer at work, Technical had already purged its hard drive. He was searching on the computer again when Shelley came out of the shower. She was wearing one of the fluffy white bathrobes that he had bought for her. She sat on his lap to see what he was doing. He had found a web site with different web based chat rooms on it. Listed on it were various topics like aliens, Mp3 file sharing, the obligatory porn traders, and one room that caught his eye. It was entitled "The truth is out there."  
  
"On the search for the Matrix again?" she asked teasingly. She understood why his dreams would drive him to find the source. The Matrix was his best lead so far. She had heard from him about her supposedly saying "The Matrix has you" which she most certainly didn't remember saying, but she did have to admit that hallucinations weren't out of the question. His dreams certainly were real enough. Occasionally, he spoke in his sleep, and what he said gave her nightmares.  
  
Clicking on the chat room, he logged on as Ace301, and it opened to reveal several arguments including; alien abductions, whether there was a Roswell Cover-up, and which would win in a war, the Federation, or the Empire. After arguing that there was a cover-up in Roswell, that abductions did indeed happen, and that the Federation would win hands down with the use of the Genesis Device, the room began to slowly clear out.  
  
One name had been quiet the entire time that James had been there. His "name" was Phoenix, and he was apparently a lurker, not saying much of anything. James was always creeped out by Lurkers, so he began to exit when, low and behold, the Phoenix spoke.  
  
Phoenix: They are all so close, but yet so far away.  
  
Ace301: Pardon me?  
  
Phoenix: They see shadows lurking behind every corner, cover-ups behind every story, yet  
they don't understand that the whole thing is a vast cover up.  
  
Ace301: The illuminati???..  
  
Phoenix: They are but part of the conspiracy, not the progenitors of it. Beneath every truth you hold  
dear is a untruth of unbelievable scope.  
  
Ace301: I understand..  
  
Phoenix: The Matrix has you, James. It is up to you to free yourself.  
  
Ace301: How do you know my name???  
  
----Phoenix has logged off. (342095445)  
  
Ace301: Phoenix???  
  
James and Shelley looked at one another. Evidently someone else had heard of the Matrix, and he apparently knew James' name. James logged off the computer and went to bed.  
  
TBC. 


	3. Bizarre Revelations

This is my first fanfiction. I started by writing a character story for a Matrix role-playing game my friend was running. The game flopped, but the character was so interesting that I had to write it out. I've written a little bit of fiction before, but never for anyone else to see, so there will be revisions as I realize what I wrote sounds worse than I intended it too. :')  
  
Some would say that this sounds a lot like the Matrix itself, but it seems to me that anyone who finds out about the matrix and is eventually removed would follow some basic events. For example, there is first contact, weird stuff, what is the matrix, oh that's the matrix, and finally running from agents and removal. Its what you put in to flesh out your character and make the story unique and not another NEO clone that is important!  
  
Thanks  
  
Draconious  
  
*****  
  
Awakening - Chapter 3- Bizarre Revelations  
  
A figure bundled in a tattered gray cloak climbed through a decimated building, searching desperately. Lifting pieces of debris, checking to see if anyone was buried there. Everything was covered with ash and suet and soon the searcher's hands were coated with a thick black film. Scanning the room, it turned and climbed what was left of a concrete staircase and approached the edge of the building. There the wall had fallen away, revealing the view such as it was.  
  
Destroyed structures, what must have been proud, beautiful buildings, littered the landscape. Tall buildings with delicate spires, shorter buildings that appeared to once had glass cathedral ceilings, and arching bridges that were barely intact. A proud civilization was reduced to ruins.  
  
Above the buildings, a dark sky roiled with clouds. Lightning lit the heavens, revealing the nightmare landscape below. Many buildings were knocked off their foundations, laying in what must have once been avenues and broadways. Amongst the buildings, though the figure lacked the eyesight to see, lay hundreds of skeletons in the final stages of decay, becoming more dust to add to the landscape.  
  
In the building adjacent to the one the figure occupied, there looked to be the burning remains of an aircraft of some sort. Seeing this, the figure rapidly climbed another set of crumbling stairs and ran to the edge, where an archway led towards the distant building.  
  
The cloaked figure edged its way out onto the archway and slowly balanced towards the burning wreckage. Buffeted by high winds, there were several occasions where the adventurer almost tumbled to a quick death. After 10 uncertain minutes, the wreckage was being examined.  
  
"Where. Where???" Sorting through the still hot metal while avoiding the remaining fires, the cloaked figure struggled with a particularly large piece of metal. Underneath was a body, but it wasn't the one being searched for.  
  
"Where are you James!??" screamed the cloaked figure, as the cloak fell from behind. Bloody, dirty, red hair matted to a wound, Shelley Thompson was searching for her man.  
  
Sitting up with a strangled scream, she looked over at James. She hadn't told him that for the last few days, she too had been having bizarre dreams about a post-apocalyptic landscape. This was the first time that she had been looking for James, however, and she couldn't figure what that meant.  
  
Climbing out of the bed, Shelley walked into the bathroom attached to their small bedroom. There, she dropped the nightgown she was wearing and allowed the hot water of her shower to lend her some small comfort. Unfortunately their apartment didn't have a lot of hot water and James would have to take a shower to get ready for work, too. She started to turn the water off when the glazed glass doors opened and James stepped in, rubbing sleep out of his eyes.  
  
"Hello," He mumbled, stepping towards the stream of water.  
  
"Hello," she answered lustily, stepping into his embrace.  
  
10 minutes later, they got out quickly when the water turned ice cold.  
  
*****  
  
"Come on, we're going to be late," he said from the drivers seat as she ran out of the brownstone apartment building and down the steps to the car. Their building was an old one that had been remodeled to offer nicer apartments, but unfortunately that had been done in the 1970's. Still, it was a nice place to live and the rent was cheap, so they liked it.  
  
"Alright, I'm in," she said as she attached her seatbelt and James stomped on the gas. They took off and drove towards their work. Normally, the drive only took about 15 minutes, but for some reason the traffic this morning was murder. 10 minutes spent looking at "It's a child, not a choice" and "I voted for Clinton/Gore" was enough to give Shelley a headache. Turning to look out the passenger side window, she looked at a black luxury car driving parallel to them.  
  
Driving the vehicle was a Nondescript man wearing what appeared to be a black business suit, wearing black glasses against the morning sun. Not paying too much attention to him, Shelley turned to ask James about their plans for lunch. When James saw the man (looking past Shelley) he had to keep from swerving the car. It was the same man that was in the elevator!  
  
"What?" she asked at his stricken expression.  
  
"That man.. I've seen him before. He was in the elevator at work on the day we met. Come to think of it, I've seen him a few times since then. Strange guy." James said as he looked back at the road. The car in front of him came to a complete stop. Looking back at Shelley, he said, "What the Hell? He's gone!?"  
  
"What??" Turning, Shelley looked at the black sedan and saw that it was being driven by a middle-aged woman with brown hair. She just stared at the woman, thinking that she was loosing her mind.  
  
"I saw a man in a suit. You saw him too right?" She asked.  
  
"Yeah. Don't tell anyone about this, alright?"  
  
"What. Yeah, okay. I won't tell anyone I'm going crazy." She replied.  
  
"Your not going crazy. the world is." He said. He changed lanes and turned into the parking garage.  
  
*****  
  
The day hadn't gotten much better from there. The computer network was down. Supposedly a hacker had broke into the network and had played with the files. They were restoring the servers, but business was disrupted until well into the afternoon. James was having problems getting Robert Wilkinson on the phone, he was supposed to come in to go over some plans today. Walking down the corridor towards Shelley's office, he came to a complete stop.  
  
In the server room there were two men working on the large computer banks. Both wore black suits, were wearing sunglasses, and had earpieces in. He quickly jumped to the right into an empty cubicle before they could see him. Peaking out, he saw that bent over the open computer as they were, neither had seen him yet. His heart was pounding and for some unknown reason he knew in the pit of his stomach that they were after him. He had to get Shelley and get the heck out of here.  
  
He couldn't get to her office without passing them so he decided to sneak into his office and call her. He would get her to meet him at the parking garage and they would leave together. Turning, he crawled out of the cubicle while the MIB's backs were turned, then walked quickly yet silently towards his office. Shutting the door quietly, he hurried to pick up his phone.  
  
"Come on, Come on." Dialing quickly, he noticed a 'click' on the line, then the phone went dead. Staring at the phone in horror, James feared that maybe it wasn't him they were after. Maybe it was Shelley.  
  
*****  
  
Shelley was working in her office, typing several databases that needed to be sent downstairs to be integrated into a package being offered to a firm they were hired for. Hours of typing led to her needing to take a break, so she saved her work and left her office, walking down the hall. Intent on speaking to James, she didn't see the man in the black suit in the server room as she walked past.  
  
Looking up from his work on the server, Agent Jones (one of many) saw a young woman walking down the hall matching the description of the woman they were looking for. While she wasn't their primary objective (bugging the server for data transmissions) she was a secondary objective. Reaching to his ear piece, he silently communicated to his brethren.  
  
Turning the corner and walking towards James' office, she slowed as she saw two Men in black suits like the one in the car this morning. They were approaching her slowly.  
  
*Alright calm now.. calm.. they probably aren't here for me. Just calmly walk past them and into his office. Everything will be alright if I can just get to James' office.*  
  
"Miss Thompson?" Agent Brown asked. "Come with us."  
  
"What's this concerning," she asked.  
  
"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say." He continued to read off the Miranda rights as Agent Black (Black hair, stern jaw, a new model) placed her into handcuffs. They escorted her out of the office and toward the elevator bank.  
  
******  
  
James ran out of his office in time to see Shelley in the elevator with three of the Men in Black suits. They clearly had her in handcuffs and were taking her out of the building. James ran towards the elevator, but the doors closed a few seconds before he could get there. "Shelley!" he shouted.  
  
Slamming the elevator 'down' button, he impatiently awaited another elevator. It finally opened and he rode down to the lobby. The elevator seemed to be moving in slow motion, floating like a feather down the elevator shaft. Finally arriving, James ran out of the lobby in time to see a black Sedan drive away, two men in black suits driving off with the love of his life.  
  
"Mr. Mason"  
  
Turning around, James saw that a man in black had followed him out of the building. "Yes."  
  
"I hope we're not going to have any problems with you, with your involvement with a known criminal. Perhaps I should take you into custody as well."  
  
Looking around, James noticed that there was no car for the man to put him in. Was he an Officer? Agent? Man of a shadowy government organization? Who were these guys?  
  
Agent Black seemed to have reached the same conclusion, so he turned and walked away from the office at a quick rate of speed.  
  
A few minutes of indecision, and James realized he had no idea where Shelley was being held at. He turned in the direction that the man had headed and ran as fast as he could. He found the man as he turned a corner into a back alleyway. Racing to catch up, James turned into the alleyway in time to see the man's body enveloped in blue jags of electricity, as though he were struck by lightning.  
  
As the electricity increased, the man's body seemed to blur, and then the electricity stopped. In his place was a bag lady. She looked confused as to where she was. Not as confused as James was though.  
  
TBC.  
  
Authors note: I've come up with several different ways for this story to go since I first made it, and the one I decided on is slightly different than the original concept. Feel free to comment on the way the story is going and guess at what is happening.  
  
Drac 


	4. Beyond the Dream

This is my first fanfiction. I started by writing a character story for a Matrix role-playing game my friend was running. The game flopped, but the character was so interesting that I had to write it out. I've written a little bit of fiction before, but never for anyone else to see, so there will be revisions as I realize what I wrote sounds worse than I intended it too. :')  
Some would say that this sounds a lot like the Matrix itself, but it seems to me that anyone who finds out about the matrix and is eventually removed would follow some basic events. For example, there is first contact, weird stuff, what is the matrix, oh that's the matrix, and finally running from Agents and removal. Its what you put in to flesh out your character and make the story unique and not another NEO clone that is important!  
  
Thanks  
  
Draconious  
  
*****  
  
Awakening - Chapter 4- Beyond the Dream  
  
Shelley was riding through town in the back of the black sedan, with the two men in the front of the vehicle. Neither of them were talking. Both wore the same black suit, shoes, tie, and glasses. Both had earpieces in, which the man in the passenger seat would occasionally press his fingers to as though hearing an important message.  
  
She had originally been trying to keep track of where they were going. She knew Stanton Island pretty well, but they had been driving quickly and the number of turns they had taken had confused her. The warehouses that surrounded them looked run down, and there were plenty of them on the island.  
  
Looking at the driver of the vehicle, Shelley began to get a sudden piercing headache. She closed her eyes against the pain, as everything went white.  
  
*****  
  
Two figures were running through the city. The first was male. He wore a black denim jacket, black pants, military boots, and had an automatic pistol in each hand. Strapped to his legs were two more pistols, as well as some clips.  
  
The other was female. She wore blue jeans, a strapless leather top, and black running shoes. She was carrying a small submachinegun in her hands. They ran through an alleyway and turned a corner.  
  
In the distance she could see two men in black suits. AGENTS! "Ace!" She called to the male, and they turned to run the other way. The alley ended at a busy street, 4 lanes of traffic moving at about 45 miles an hour. Looking at the two men following about 75 feet back, she jumped.  
  
Flying through the air, she cleared all 4 lanes to land on the other side. Turning, she watched the male approach the traffic.  
  
Blam! Blam! (Cheesy gunfire sound effects!) Blam! The two men were firing their silver plated 9mm's at the male. One shot almost grazed him. She cried out and opened fire at them.  
  
The male fired both guns at the Agents, then did a back flip, landing between the first two lanes of traffic. Shots rang off the cars passing as the Agent continued firing. One of the man's shots caught the rightmost Agent in the head and he fell, his body turning into a soccer-mom. He jumped, landing atop a sports car, then sprang onto an SUV. Turning quickly, he jumped onto an RV heading the other direction, then jumped clear of the traffic. They both began running again.  
  
There was a squall of tires, and a large crash. Two vehicles had collided and from them emerged two Agents. They ran after the two retreating rebels.  
  
The rebels were almost to the exit, they could hear it ringing in the distance. The male reached for it, when a shot rang out, its round hitting him in the shoulder. He fell to the ground. She turned, firing at the Agents. The male continued to fire with his good hand, as he reached for the phone with his injured arm. "Nightshade, you go first!" he said, holding the phone to her. "No, your injured, you go first!" she replied, firing at the Agents.  
  
Placing the phone against his ear, he disappeared in a flash of green code. Ducking quickly, the girl hung up the phone and shot at the Agents again. She managed to pick off one of the Agents, and he disappeared, leaving behind a older man, bullet wound in the chest.  
  
The phone rang once again, and emptying her clip at the Agent, she picked it up and placed it against her ear. The Agent fired three times, but his bullets hit only air as she disappeared at the last second.  
  
*****  
  
A quick intake of breath and she was awake again. Looking up, she saw the two Agents sitting in the front of the car. AGENTS! She knew what they were. They defended the Matrix against Runners.. Runners like her and. The memories were coming back, but they were still confusing.  
  
The sedan pulled into a garage, and the two Agents removed her from the car, putting her in the custody of several police officers and leading them to an interrogation room.  
  
"Thank you officers. That will be all." The Agent closed the door and turned to look at her. "Miss Thompson. How are you today?"  
  
She was silent, struck by the incongruity of the statement. *First Ace and I were shot at, then chased across traffic. no wait, that wasn't me, that was the girl in the vision. wasn't it?* "Fine." She replied quietly.  
  
"Do you know why you are hear?" he asked her.  
  
"If this is about those parking tickets, I swear that I was about to go.." she said with a smirk.  
  
"This is not about parking tickets, nor is this about the illegal downloading of software on your computer. This is not about jaywalking or the "recreational" use of narcotics. This is about your illegal nighttime activities on the computer using the alias Nightshade." The silence was deafening.  
  
*Nightshade. that was the girl's name. Now I know why I liked that name so much and picked it as an alias.*  
  
"As Nightshade you have perpetrated crimes including but not limited to. Changing city records, evading taxes, embezzlement, fraud, illegal use of data, violating the data protection act, (lots of legal mumbo jumbo) and interfering with several police investigations. Do you have anything to say for yourself?"  
  
"Wow." She smirked at the Agent. "You guys have been, what, stalking me right?" She was gratified that the Agent seemed to be getting impatient with her.  
  
"Miss Thompson, I am willing to forget that these charges ever happened, but I need you to be honest with me. Have you ever heard of the hacker named Phoenix?"  
  
*Wow.. They must not want me to talk to Phoenix. I need to find him then. First I have to get out of here."  
  
"Isn't that a mythological bird?" she asked.  
  
"Yes, I believe it is." The Agent replied, deadpan.  
  
"That's all I know." She said.  
  
"That's too bad. I was hoping not to have to do this." Reaching into his jacket, he removed a silver case. Reaching inside, he brought out a small metal object. Shelley tried to move, but she found her arms and legs affixed to the chair. Her head was held still by a headrest what was suddenly gripping the back of her neck. The object that the Agent was holding began to swell and squirm and was revealed to be a worm-like creature with tentacles that looked to be made of metal. (IE the thing in Neo's stomach)  
  
Shelley began struggling as she recognized the trace program for what it was, but the seat held her securely. Approaching her, he set the squirming creature on her shoulder where it began digging at her ear. With a shriek from the piercing pain, it slid into her head. She then blacked out.  
  
*****  
  
James was walking slowly back towards the office, contemplating the disappearance of Shelley, his girlfriend. Taken by the shadowy men in black suits, they had given no reason for her to be arrested. He had no idea where she had been transported, and had no idea how to get in touch with her. Walking through the alleyway, he began to get dizzy and have a headache, so he sat on a crate to wait out the dizziness.  
  
*****  
  
He turned to the beautiful red headed girl, his true love, and took her in his arms. They were both greasy from working on some repairs to the Chimera, their hovercraft, captained by Phoenix, a strong leader that had led them to victory on several occasions. They had just removed a newby from the Matrix, a young man named Alan (no alias yet) who was being hunted by Agents. He had no idea that the Matrix existed, but if the Agents wanted him dead, it was interest of the Resistance that he not die.  
  
Kissing her, he rubbed her back and said, "Nightshade, you are the best thing in my life." She leaned against him and said, "Ace, we need to finish these repairs, and if keep that up, we won't get them done." With a smirk, she knelt to open an access panel.  
  
"All hands prepare for power down, Squiddies in the area!" Ace and Nightshade jumped and ran to the bridge.  
  
*****  
  
Sitting up from where he was crouched, James looked around. *The dreams are becoming more vivid. And I wasn't even asleep this time!* His head hurt as the memories were becoming integrated. Standing and popping his jaw, he went in search of Nightshade, his wife.  
  
*****  
  
James walked into the Broken Modem. The Broken Modem was a coffeehouse turned internet café. It was very popular with the Tech crowd, and he'd been there a few times. He was searching for someone, someone who could explain the pain in his head and the memories he was regaining.  
  
Sitting at a computer, he opened the web browser and moved the cursor to the address bar. There he typed a DNS entry and the web browser moved to a secure website. A password screen opened with two blank fields. In the first he typed a series of 16 numbers. In the second he typed a different series of 16 numbers. The page opened a text box and he typed a message.  
  
I am at the Café and I need answers. My head is killing me. They have Nightshade.  
  
Ace  
  
While James was not exactly computer illiterate, he wasn't a hacker either. He had no idea what it was that he just did. It was like his hands went on autopilot and did everything by themselves. He had found out a few months ago that Shelley did fit the technical definition of a Hacker, but he wasn't aware of her doing anything illegal. The voice or memories he associated with "Ace" told him that he was wrong, that both of them had broke plenty of laws, but it didn't matter.  
  
Taking a seat at the bar, he ordered a cappachino, something that he normally detested, but it seemed great to him now, energizing him. Sitting on the stool, he was awaiting a visitor. It shouldn't be long now, he thought.  
  
*****  
  
"I'm in. I'll rendezvous with Ace in 5 minutes." Phoenix hung on the link he was on and turned to leave the room. Standing tall, about 6'3" and wearing a black trench coat, Phoenix cut an impressive figure. Pale blonde hair, clear skin, and piercing blue eyes added to the effect.  
  
Turning from the phone that lay on a desk in an abandoned "trend store". He walked out the backdoor, leaving it unlocked, and turned to walk down the alleyway. Phoenix was the captain of the Hovercraft Chimera, a swift vessel that had got them through a number of skirmishes. One particular mission had been disastrous, however.  
  
*****  
  
They had been trying to remove another potential in endless quest to find the One, or at least increase their numbers. It had been going well up to the point that the Chimera had been waiting for the body to fall out of the refuse shoot. They waited, and waited. He had disappeared from the Matrix, and his trace had been complete.  
  
After about an hour later, Phoenix had decided to send some people up to see what had happened. The team consisted of Ace, Nightshade, Twip, and Jinks. All were heavily armed with Ion Cannons and Impact grenades.  
  
(Authors note: Ion cannons being smaller versions of what was used to kill Cypher, Impact grenades being like throwable shaped charges. There has to be special weapons designed to take out things besides EMP!)  
  
After climbing the cliffside and entering the draintunnel, which was not an easy climb, the team ascended the tube and came out at a junction. The new guy, who went by the alias Nero, had become stuck where the pipe had deteriorated. His legs had falled through the hole, his upper body pinned in. They attempted to remove him, but he was wedged from the other side, so they used a cutting torch to cut through the wall and removed him from the other side. He was injured, but would survive and they started to find an easier way down to the ship.  
  
That was when the Maintenance Spider showed up. It had found the holes in the drainpipe and was oozing a sealant compound on the openings. Suddenly they couldn't exit the way they came in. The room they were in opened into a corridor, which they went down. An opening in the wall showed them row after row of cocoons, all filled with bodies of various ages. Maintenance Spiders crawled on the black cable vines, repairing various breaches. Nurse Bots checked on the cocoons, and tiny hunter bots kept small animals from disturbing the system.  
  
The other side of the room had a corridor that sloped down, so hopefully it lead back towards the ship. It was while proceeding down the corridor that they encountered the first guard. It turned towards them and began to attack. It slashed at Twip with a claw-like appendage. He jumped back, and Ace fired his Ion Cannon at the bot. The charge knocked it back while Nightshade prepared an impact grenade. She hurled it at the bot and it attached to its underside.  
  
Everyone stumbled back and it detonated. The bot was blown in 3 different directions, but not before it evidently transmitted an intruder alert. 3 more guard bots began trundling in their direction. The squad ran down the corridor as best they could, carrying Nero and defending themselves. They managed to take out 4 more bots before making it to the exit, but by then they were attacked by a group of 5 guard bots, with one really big bot that looked like a small squidie. They squeezed Nero through the hole, followed by Twip and Jinks. Nightshade and Ace were laying cover fire to protect their exit. Twip and Jinks carried Nero into the ship, but they were still waiting for Ace and Nightshade to arrive when 4 Squiddies appeared on the Radar.  
  
They set off the EMP, disabling all the robots in the vicinity. Phoenix and Twip went back in to see if they could find Nightshade or Ace, but they were both gone. It was assumed they had been killed, their bodies disposed of, but Phoenix held the belief that they had been captured alive, and that a Nurse Bot had placed them into new cocoons and reinserted them into the Matrix. So the Search had begun.  
  
Now it looks as though Ace had regained his memory and was searching Phoenix out. He had accessed a communications terminal that Phoenix had set up for none secure transmissions. Hopefully, he will be getting his 2nd in command back soon.  
  
*****  
  
James, or Ace as he coming to think of himself, was finishing his cappachino when he felt a presence enter the room. Turning to look behind him he saw the familiar RSI of his Captain enter the room. *Whats an RSI?* he wondered silently.  
  
Walking up, Phoenix sat next to Ace and ordered a Coffee, black. "Well, took you long enough." He said.  
  
Ace looked at him. "I've been getting memories back for the last few days and have been having nightmares for months now, and I still have no idea what's going on. And they have Nightshade."  
  
Phoenix looked down, then back up at his 2nd. "We have to get you out of here first. I can't have you turning into an Agent in midconversation. Lets go."  
  
Ace followed his captain out of the Broken Modem, wondering if in the next second he would turn into an Agent and kill his best friend. 


	5. Exit Stage Left

This is my first fanfiction. I started by writing a character story for a Matrix role-playing game my friend was running. The game flopped, but the character was so interesting that I had to write it out. I've written a little bit of fiction before, but never for anyone else to see, so there will be revisions as I realize what I wrote sounds worse than I intended it too. :')  
  
Some would say that this sounds a lot like the Matrix itself, but it seems to me that anyone who finds out about the matrix and is eventually removed would follow some basic events. For example, there is first contact, weird stuff, what is the matrix, oh that's the matrix, and finally running from agents and removal. Its what you put in to flesh out your character and make the story unique and not another NEO clone that is important! Thanks Draconious  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------  
  
Awakening - Chapter 5- Exit Stage Left  
  
Ace followed Phoenix down the street, where they climbed into a large blue car. Opening a cell phone, Phoenix dialed a number.  
  
"Cray, I have him. Is everything set up? We need to hurry if were going to pull this off. I'll be there in 5. Have Nero and Twip stand guard outside. Right. See you." He hung up the phone as he started the vehicle.  
  
"So I get to take the red pill again, hmm. That's got to be a first." Ace said. Phoenix nodded.  
  
"First man to fall down the rabbit hole twice!" They shared a laugh, as Ace's memories started to fall into place and he began remembering his friend.  
  
"Unlike when we normally take a person out of the Matrix, with you the Agents will be expecting something, so we have to move especially fast. The Chimera is already waiting near the drop point of the node that we expect you to be in. Hopefully we can get you pulled and see how much your muscles have degenerated." Phoenix turned the car around the corner and sped up.  
  
"Uh, Phoenix.." Ace started. "How long have we been back in? Time isn't exactly linear in the Matrix."  
  
"It's been 5 years, give or take." Ace nodded. It could have been much worse. It could have been twenty, and he could be pulled only to learn that he was too old to do anything other than go to Zion and plant crops in hydroponics.  
  
"So has anything happened while I was away? Any new colonies started?" Phoenix was quiet for a minute, considering what to say.  
  
"Alpha colony fell. A stray EM Burst alerted a sentinel group, from what I heard. There were no survivors."  
  
"What about the others? Any changes?" He asked.  
  
"Nero has turned into quite the warrior. He runs point or guards for us all the time. While nothing is worth loosing two of your finest people, at least he is useful. We pulled a hacker named Hexadecimal, she is good with the Core. She and Twip have unofficially shacked up. I told them it was fine as long as it doesn't interfere with their duties."  
  
Ace nodded, looking at the road. "What about the search? Has anyone found."  
  
"You mean the One? I've heard rumors, but there are always rumors. Probably just a strong potential, like yourself and Nightshade." Phoenix turned the car into a parking lot and pulled forward into a garage. The doors closed behind them.  
  
"I'm a little worried. Since regaining my memories of the Matrix and what it is, I've tried some of the things I used to be able to do. it didn't work. The skills I learned at the hands of Jacob are gone. (Jacob was the Operator prior to Ace's and Nightshades capture) My mind is "not Free". They climbed out of the car and walked up some stairs as the garage door closed behind them. At the top of the stairs was a man carrying a large automatic rifle in his hands. Nodding to Nero, they went inside.  
  
"I'm not surprised. When the machines put you back in with a fake past, they probably overwrote your skills. Though you know about the Matrix, you still don't believe it, not inside, and you won't until you've been unplugged. There's nothing we can do about that. Hopefully it won't be a problem much longer." They entered a room where the "Dentist Chair" was set up, and in front of it lay a large metal basin, filled with water. Twip was manning a computer console, preparing to run the trace program.  
  
Ace jumped in the chair as Phoenix brought out the red pill. The blue pill was nowhere to be found. Ace smiled and grabbed the pill, swallowing it dry before sitting back in the chair, waiting for the process to begin.  
  
Because he had some idea of what to expect, it wasn't quite a surprise when the water began to move of its own accord. Behind him he could here Twip calling out readings on the trace program as the water started to come to life. It sloshed in the basin, then started forming a pseudopod which extended towards him. Ace listened as Twip said they were 90% complete obtaining the lock. The water reached him and pressed against his chest.  
  
Ace gasped as he had forgotten the water felt like it came from the bottom of a frozen lake. The water spread across his body, coating him like a suit. Then the water rose above his shoulders, rolling across the back of his head, and finally across his face.  
  
It felt like he was submerged in the frozen lake, looking out through the ice. He could see Twip adjusting the settings on the computer and Phoenix coming over to the chair as everything went dark.  
  
*****  
  
Warmth. Not longer cold, but warm, like a nice bath. Opening his eyes, he could barely see the pinkish gel that he was floating in. Remembering last time, he resisted the panic that he was drowning and reached up, breaking the membrane of his cocoon and sat up. He grabbed the tube that was attached to his face and pulled, gagging as the long tube came out of his mouth. Then, using a hand to wipe the gunk from his eyes, he gazed around the room, looking at thousands of batteries.  
  
Reaching behind him, he grasped the connection to his head, struggling vainly to remove it. It, of course, wouldn't budge. His muscles were not in to bad of shape, though he had lost a good deal of muscle tone. Finally, he heard the tell-tale humming of the approaching nurse bot, which noticed him sitting up and came to inspect his cocoon. Finding it burst open, with the occupant sitting up, it assumed the battery was busted and reached to unplug it. Ace flinched when the machine grabbed him by his neck. It could quickly end his life, but it was programmed to only remove the plugs and flush his pod, making way for a new battery. After it dropped him, the other plugs on his body popped off sequentially with a hiss of compressed air and Ace took the water slide towards the drop point.  
  
*****  
  
Cray, who was manning the sensors of the Chimera, called to Hex as he saw the surge of water and detritus from the drain. Then out fell a body. Hex pulled it up, but found that it definitely was not Ace, being half decayed. She dropped the hook and allowed the body to float away.  
  
"Hey Hex, you ever wander why the Plants drop some bodies down the chute, but others it grinds for food? To the Plant, they're all dead." Cray asked her.  
  
"I assume it keeps those that die of natural causes, but those who die of disease are flushed to prevent possible infection of other batteries. Those we pull must register as an unnatural death." She replied.  
  
"Here comes another one!" he said.  
  
*****  
  
Last time he had slid down the chute, he was nearly unconscious. This time, if it weren't for being sore, naked and cold, the slide would be almost fun. Ace slide down the last turn and then fell 35 feet into the fetid water. That, however, was not fun as he involuntarily took a gulp of the nasty stuff and immediately started gagging. The claw came down and grabbed him, hoisting him up into the ship. On the way, he vomited some of the water, along with what remained of his last meal. (A/N His last meal was remains, technically!)  
  
*****  
  
Phoenix sat up after Hex pulled his plug, then walked to the medical bay, where Ace was being checked out.  
  
"How's he doing?" he asked Cray, who doubled as their medic.  
  
"Better than most do when they're pulled. His muscle tone is still not too shabby." Cray replied.  
  
"You should have seen him before he went in." Phoenix said with a smirk.  
  
"His extra plugs will have to be removed again, and his eyes will be sensitive for a few days. Other than that, he's good. He'll be sedated until we flush the toxins from his body. took a good swig of that water when he hit. it'd suck to pull him only to have him die from the stuff."  
  
Phoenix nodded and turned to leave.  
  
*****  
  
Two Weeks later.  
  
Phoenix entered the construct, followed closely by Ace. Phoenix's RSI resembled himself, save for instead of the raggedy clothes that they all wore, he was wearing a dark blue tee-shirt, black pants, and was wearing his black trenchcoat. His normally ratty hair was well kept and pulled back.  
  
Ace's RSI had changed since he was pulled out. His long brown hair was straighter, and less prone to flying around in the slightest breeze. His black denim jacket was replaced by a full-length dark green Army surplus trenchcoat, complete with fraying and bullet holes. He had on dark green denim pants and army boots.  
  
"We'll skip the usual training since you've already completed it. Let's begin combat training."  
  
"No need. My skills are coming back to me, now that I'm out of the pod."  
  
"Prove it. Hex, load the Pier combat sequence."  
  
On the computers that operate the core, Hex inserted a disk, loading the sequence. Then she hit the Load button and in the construct, a thick fog rolled through the room. When it thinned, Phoenix and Ace were standing on a Pier. To both sides of them rested large cargo vessels, loaded with crates. On the pier itself lay several crates that had already been offloaded.  
  
Phoenix began taking off his trench coat, and Ace followed suit. Phoenix turned to him and bowed, and Ace attacked when motioned to do so. He started with a jump kick, which Phoenix stopped by grabbing his foot and pushing back. Ace landed, doing a back flip to regain his footing. He rushed Phoenix, a flurry of punches and kicks, all being blocked or deflected, then he landed a head-butt that Phoenix wasn't expecting.  
  
Phoenix decided to take the initiative and began to press an attack on Ace, which he was hard pressed to block. After 4 simultaneous punches, he snuck in a kick that knocked Ace across the pier and into some stacked crates. After this, he began evading Phoenix, doing his best to stay away from the flurry of strikes that awaited him anytime he approached.  
  
"Com'on Ace! You're a potential! You have more to bring than this! You have your skills back, that's true, but why are you running? If you can't take me on how do you expect to survive Running the Matrix?"  
  
Ace stopped, took a deep breath, and turned towards Phoenix. Coming at him, he blocked two punches, then landed a strike to his abdomen. Following up with a knee strike, he attempted a sweep kick, which Phoenix jumped over.  
  
"Alright! Now were talking!" Phoenix landed from the jump and did a spinning jump kick. Ducking the kick, Ace gave a double palm-strike to Phoenix's back as he revolved, which pushed him into a stack of crates.  
  
"Okay. No holding back now!" Phoenix said as he extricated himself from the crates. *NO holding back? He's been holding back?? Jesus Christ! * thought Ace.  
  
Phoenix came at him, punching and kicking in a blur, moving so fast that his hands and feet were not visible. Blocking and dodging as fast as he could, Ace still got struck one out of three times, and it was beginning to have an effect on him.  
  
"Do you yield?" asked Phoenix as he pummeled Ace. "Do you yield?!" he repeated.  
  
"NO!" shouted Ace as he was struck again. Concentrating, Phoenix's strikes took on a slow motion quality, which Ace found easier to block. Weaving in between his strikes, Ace punched Phoenix in the chest, pushing him back 5 feet, where he fell to the ground.  
  
Hunched over with his hands resting on his knees, panting heavily, Ace stumbled over to where Phoenix was lying, his chest heaving. At first he thought Phoenix was crying, but it resolved into a low-throated laughter, that got louder as he climbed to his feet. He came over and grabbed Ace's hand.  
  
"It's great to have you back!" he said as he grasped his friends arm. "Hex, end the sequence," he called.  
  
TBC.  
  
Authors note: I am getting more comfortable writing with these characters, and if enough people show interest, I am considering writing a sequel to Awakening involving the adventures of the ship Chimera and the Matrix.  
  
Also, to clarify, Ace and Nightshade are potentials, much like the children in the Oracle's house. They can bend the rules greater than the average runner, but to nowhere near the levels as Neo can do (such as breaking them ie flying)  
  
Please review and offer suggestions! 


	6. Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

This is my first fanfiction. I started by writing a character story for a Matrix role-playing game my friend was running. The game flopped, but the character was so interesting that I had to write it out. I've written a little bit of fiction before, but never for anyone else to see, so there will be revisions as I realize what I wrote sounds worse than I intended it too. :')  
  
Some would say that this sounds a lot like the Matrix itself, but it seems to me that anyone who finds out about the matrix and is eventually removed would follow some basic events. For example, there is first contact, weird stuff, what is the matrix, oh that's the matrix, and finally running from agents and removal. Its what you put in to flesh out your character and make the story unique and not another NEO clone that is important! Thanks Draconious  
  
Awakening - Chapter 6- Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder  
  
"I'm in." he said simply, then hung up the phone. Turning, Ace walked from the honeymoon suite of the South Arms hotel, shaking his head at Hex's choice of entrances.  
  
His dark green army trenchcoat swishing behind him, he walked down the hall to the elevator. In the lining of his coat were two .45mm automatics, his favorite guns, just in case. Some needed high rates of firepower, but since getting his memory back, he'd become somewhat of a crack shot. Good stopping power had become more important to him than lots and lots of bullets.  
  
After making 2 runs in the Matrix, Phoenix had deemed him ready and had given him permission to try to track down Shelley. After looking at Matrix code for over a week while running a search pattern, he had come across her in San Francisco of all places. He wasn't sure how she had ended up there, but he would ask her when he found her.  
  
*****  
  
Jennifer Tranton left her office, on the trail of a hot news story. Three men in trench coats had held up a bank in downtown San Francisco. Six officers and two security guards had been killed, but nothing had been stolen. The men had somehow got away. Something about it just didn't seem right and her reporter's instinct was screaming "Cover-up."  
  
Arriving at the scene, she found the place marked off by yellow "police line- do not cross" tape. Looking around, she took in the scene with her keen reporter's eye. From where she stood she could see numerous bullet holes in the walls visible through the broken windows. Clearly there had been quite a lot of shots fired.  
  
*How had these guys survived all of that fire without a scratch?* she thought. Clearly there had been enough cover fire that blind luck should have struck at least one of them. Only the officers had taken fire, however. Looking at the broken window on the top floor, she noticed an open window on the building next to it across the two lane street. *No way.* Still, she trusted her instinct, and entered the building, as it had no police tape around it.  
  
Coming out at the top floor, she walked towards the room where the window was located. There hadn't been any problems entering the building as it was available for rent and was currently vacant. Entering the room, she took a look around. The window was open, several footprints were made in the dust, going towards a low table against the wall. There were no footprints leading out of the room. Heading towards the table, she noticed that the phone was dangling off the hook, the receiver on the floor. Picking it up, she placed it near her ear, but it was silent.  
  
She placed it on the hook, halfway expecting it to ring. It didn't, and she sighed with relief. Turning from the phone, she jumped when she saw the man who was standing in the doorway.  
  
*****  
  
He found her inside a newspaper office, sitting at the desk of a Jennifer Tranton. Her hair was bleached blonde, but it was clearly her. She was chatting to a guy with a desk next to hers. Ace resisted a stab of jealousy. They looked to be talking about a story she had written in the paper, but it was hard to tell from the hallway where he was peeking in. The guy got up, heading in his direction, so Ace walked down the hall into what looked like a lunchroom. Opening his cell phone, he placed a call.  
  
"Operator."  
  
"Hex, I need any articles from the San Francisco Times written by a Jennifer Tranton. Time period last 2 months."  
  
"Got it. Yes she's been writing from them for about the last 2 months, mostly articles on violence. Murders, Robberies, that sort of thing."  
  
"Thanks Hex, gotta go."  
  
Looking out the hall, he cursed when he saw her leaving by the elevator. He headed for the stairs. On the ground floor he saw her getting into a taxi and ran past it. As he went by, he dropped a small metal circle on the top of the trunk lid. It magnetically attached, and a light blinked red before the whole circle turned taxi yellow, becoming effectively invisible. Then he walked away into the crowd.  
  
His phone rang, and he answered it.  
  
"Got a lock on the trace, I'm following it." Hex said with no greeting.  
  
"Give me the nearest exit, and I'll jump back in where the taxi stops."  
  
"Gotcha. Deli across the street, the pay phone in the back." She replied.  
  
"Thanks Hex." He said as he hung up and jaywalked across the street.  
  
Entering the deli, he walked to the payphone, preparing to answer it. It rang, but before he could get there a teenager grabbed the phone. The teen blinked at the modem sound and hung up, saying something about a stupid fax.  
  
Smiling, Ace walked up like he was going to make a call. When the room was deserted the phone rang, and he picked it up, disappearing in a flash of green code.  
  
Opening his eyes, he didn't bother to get up from the chair. A few minutes later, Hex reported that the trace had led to a bank building downtown, where 3 men from the ship Hilgaria had had a shootout with some agents there prior to being pulled from a phone next to the bank. On a whim, Ace asked to be sent back in at the next closest line.  
  
Appearing at a phone at the back of a busy restaurant, Ace slipped out the back and approached the bank. In front of the building was "Jennifer Tranton" looking over the police line. Ace just sat back and watched her. He was astonished when he saw her look up at the broken window, then look at the building directly across from it. *She couldn't be thinking? My god she is!* Ace felt a flash of pride. His wife figured it out, even if she wasn't sure who she was.  
  
Ace silently followed as she entered the building, sliding up the stairs only after she had made it to the top floor. He came in behind he silently, watching as she deduced that they had entered the room from the window, but hadn't left by the door. He was standing there watching her as she saw him.  
  
*****  
  
He was just standing there, watching her with a faraway look on his face. He was dressed in a dark green trench coat, with several tears in it that looked like bullet holes. He was fairly attractive, she decided, with a strong jaw line and deep, clear eyes you could get lost in. She shook herself out of that line of thought.  
  
"What do you want?" she asked, trying not to sound scared. The bullet holes in his jacket had tipped her off that maybe he was one of the individuals from the shooting, returning to the scene of the crime.  
  
"Shelley. It's me James."  
  
Jennifer was confused for a second, have a sense of déjà vu, that she had met this man before. But she would remember him, she was sure. And why was he calling her Shelley?  
  
"I'm sorry. do I know you? My name is Jennifer Tranton, reporter with the San Francisco Times." She said automatically. Her job was her life, after all.  
  
"I'm sorry, I must have mistaken you for someone else. I used to know a girl name Shelley who looked just like you. I saw you on the street and I thought it was her. I called out, but you didn't hear me." Ace said.  
  
"Oh, well, you know what they say. everyone has an identical twin somewhere." She was blushing, thinking what she was saying was airheaded.  
  
"Oh, it's uncanny. Her hair was a little redder than yours, more strawberry than blonde, but same nice athletic body, same beautiful face. well, sorry to disturb your.. Investigation? I'll just be on my way."  
  
She liked this guy, she decided, and didn't want him to get away. She hadn't had a date in what seemed like forever, and this guy seemed genuinely nice, looking for what seemed to be an ex, or at least a good friend. He was upset for disturbing her, which was touching since most of the people she dealt with were only interested in themselves.  
  
"No! I mean, don't go. I mean.. I don't know what I mean. Would you like to have lunch? I'm not usually this forward, but."  
  
"I'd love to. I'm just kinda visiting, do you know any good places?" he said.  
  
"How about Carlos, on 4th street? They have excellent Italian. Say 2 o'clock?"  
  
"That'd be great. Well, I'll see you." With that he turned and left, and she turned back to her dilemma. How did 3 men jump 25 feet across a road, though an open window, then disappear into a. phone?  
  
*****  
  
"Operator"  
  
"Hex, she had no idea who I was, or even who she is."  
  
"Ace, Phoenix wants to talk to you."  
  
"Ace. She had no memory whatsoever?" Phoenix asked.  
  
"No, but I think she subconsciously remembers. She was investigating what happened with the Hilgaria and didn't think it was impossible that they somehow jumped 25 feet across a street into an open window. Have you ever heard anything like this?" He replied.  
  
"No, but I'll get on the radio to Zion and see if anyone's heard anything about it. Are you coming in?" Phoenix inquired.  
  
"If I have to, but I have a date to see her at 2 o'clock, so if we have any plans, that would be a good time to carry it out."  
  
"Come on in. You won't miss your date."  
  
*****  
  
"From what the crew of the Mephistopheles said, it's a new type of trace program. It's inserted into the head, blocking the memories of the individual and allowing the computer to write a "fake" past for the individual." Phoenix reported.  
  
"Did they say anything about getting it out?" Ace asked, worried.  
  
"No, but they said it can be deactivated by a large electromagnetic burst near the person. If done properly, they should get their memory back in a few hours, and they said the trace should dissolve in a few months."  
  
"I need a pulse, before I go to the restaurant." Ace said.  
  
"Hex, load him into the Construct."  
  
The white of the construct appeared around Ace and sitting in the middle was a marble pedestal. As he watched, a device appeared on the pedestal. It resembled a cap made of metal, with a battery and several wires on it, along with a round magnet on the top.  
  
"Great. How am I going to get her to put that on her head?"  
  
*****  
  
Two hours later and the date had been going great. Ace had managed to get "Jennifer" to tell him more about herself, or her fake past anyway. He had made up details from his past using the life he had had as an accountant. He had enjoyed dining with her, and liked her as a person. He disliked ruining the trust they had developed. However, he liked Nightshade more, and wanted her back.  
  
He offered to walk her out to her car, which was parked in a lot two blocks away. She had readily agreed, probably expecting him to try for a kiss goodbye, which he was tempted to do. When they arrived at the car, she unlocked the door and turned to him.  
  
"I really enjoyed our meal together. We need to do it again sometime. How about Friday?" He agreed, and she leaned forward to give him a kiss on the cheek. He reached into an inside pocket and removed the EMP cap. When she was kissing him, he pressed the button and then dropped it on the back of her head.  
  
"Hey!" she said in surprise, then the EMP flashed. She looked up at Ace, her eyes glazed. A look of confusion crossed her face and she said "Ace?" Her eyes then rolled back in her head and she fell unconscious. Ace grabbed her as she fell and set her in the car he had arrived in. He opened his cell phone and made the call.  
  
"Hex, I set it off. She's unconscious in the back seat. Have them meet me at the hotel, so we can prepare for her removal. Yeah. Thanks." He hung up the phone and drove to the South Arms hotel. 


	7. Nightshade Rides Again

This is my first fanfiction. I started by writing a character story for a Matrix role-playing game my friend was running. The game flopped, but the character was so interesting that I had to write it out. I've written a little bit of fiction before, but never for anyone else to see, so there will be revisions as I realize what I wrote sounds worse than I intended it too. :')  
  
Some would say that this sounds a lot like the Matrix itself, but it seems to me that anyone who finds out about the matrix and is eventually removed would follow some basic events. For example, there is first contact, weird stuff, what is the matrix, oh that's the matrix, and finally running from agents and removal. Its what you put in to flesh out your character and make the story unique and not another NEO clone that is important! Thanks Draconious  
  
Awakening - Chapter 7- Nightshade rides again  
  
Turning the corner, the black Cadillac pulled into the parking lot of the South Arms hotel. The door to a room on the upper level opened and a man came down the stairs. The driver's door opened up and a tall man with long brown hair stepped out. He was wearing a long green army surplus trench coat with several holes ripped in it, black ragged jeans, and army boots.  
  
He turned to open the driver's back side door, and with the assistance of the man, lifted the limp body of his wife from the car. Her hair, which was once long and red, was now bleached blonde, resulting in a strawberry blonde appearance. Her angelic face was in a peaceful repose, which he wished he could leave her in. She was in danger, however, for as long as she remained plugged into the Matrix.  
  
Nero grunted as the weight load shifted to his shoulders, then shifted it back as Ace took her, shifting her into a fireman's carry. (Body over the shoulder, head down for those who don't know) Nero grabbed the door after racing up the stairs ahead of Ace, who took her into the Honeymoon suite and sat her on the bed.  
  
Phoenix turned to him and said, "We need to remove her as quickly as possible. The Agents will be here shortly."  
  
Ace looked at him. "I know, but we have to wake her up first. We need to make sure she has her memories back. If she wakes up thinking that she is Jennifer Tranton and has been abducted, she may go permanently insane waking in the real world." Phoenix just grunted.  
  
Ace sat on the bed next to her and placed her head in his lap, gently stroking her hair. Phoenix assisted Nero and Cray as they set up the equipment used to remove her from the Matrix. After the equipment was set up, Nero went to stand guard while Cray monitored Shelley's condition.  
  
Checking her vitals, Cray said, "Her heart rate and blood pressure are rising. I'd say she'll be coming around soon."  
  
"Com'on Shelley. You can do it, come back to me baby."  
  
She started to move, tossing a little bit. Her eyelids started to flutter, then she looked up at him.  
  
"James?. What happened?" Ace looked down and pinched the bridge of his nose, as Shelley evidently didn't remember about the Matrix yet, didn't remember being Nightshade.  
  
"James? Who are all these people? Where are we?"  
  
Phoenix walked over towards her. "Ma'am, My name is Phoenix. I believe you have heard of me."  
  
Her eyes went wide and she began scrambling towards Ace, almost crawling into his lap. "James, they asked me questions about this guy, they said he was dangerous! James, we have to get out of here!"  
  
Ace was confused about her behavior. Even when she thought she was Shelley, she was never this flighty.  
  
Phoenix nodded to Cray, and he injected her with a sedative quickly.  
  
"It is as I feared. The implant is still having an effect, even after the false history of Jennifer Tranton was destroyed. We'll have to get it out and see if she remembers," he said. He opened his cell phone.  
  
"Operator."  
  
"Hex, I need the extraction device we designed."  
  
"She doesn't remember, does she?" she asked, concerned.  
  
"No."  
  
"Who's going to retrieve it?" she asked.  
  
"I will."  
  
"Okay. Disconnect the chair.'' With that, she hung up.  
  
Phoenix proceeded to disconnect the chair, and waited for the phone to ring. When it did, he picked it up and disappeared in a flash of green code.  
  
Rather than waking in his 'dentist chair' he found himself in the Construct. Sitting on a rack next to some weapons and body armor was the extraction device. It resembled a portable vacuum cleaner, with a drill bit recessed inside the vacuum tube, and a small screen attached to the side. It was a nasty looking machine, but it should do the job. He picked it up and slung on the shoulder strap.  
  
He opened his phone.  
  
"Hex, send me back in."  
  
He disappeared in a flash of light.  
  
*****  
  
Ace was comforting an unconscious Nightshade as she was prepped on the Dining room table of the Honeymoon Suite. Cray had managed to strap her head still with some small cushions and some duct tape. Her hair had been shaved off, so that it would not be in the way. She had also been heavily anesthetized.  
  
Phoenix reappeared after the phone rang, which he acknowledged and hung up. Slung over his shoulder was the extraction device. It resembled a medieval torture device gone mad, but it should do the job.  
  
Cray took the extractor from Phoenix and approached Nightshade. Lining the machine up with the marks he had made on her head, he activated it.  
  
The screen lit up, showing a scan of her head. Inside, one could clearly see the implant wrapped around parts of her brain. Cray hit a red button on the side of the device and an electrical charge ran down the barrel and shocked Nightshade. Ace flinched in sympathy. The implant squirmed like crazy, then went still.  
  
Flipping 3 switches, the drill began spinning and slowly lowered towards her head. Ace looked away, unable to watch. He heard the fleshy sounds it made as it entered his love, and could smell a faint smell of burning flesh.  
  
The charge shocked again, and then the vacuum was engaged, which sucked the implant out of her head. It smacked into a containment bottle. Flipping several more switches, the drill began backing out. It was coated with red gore.  
  
Flipping another switch and pressing a blue button, an intense blue light shone from the end of the extractor. It illuminated the wound in Nightshade's head and began to heal the hole that had been drilled. In 30 seconds or so it was healed, a patch of smooth unblemished skin left where the hole had been previously.  
  
Cray set the extractor to the side, and removed the containment bottle. Inside, the implant was squirming. Phoenix took it to the open window and threw it, making a perfect shot. It landed in runoff drain on the road, where it fell into the water and shorted out.  
  
Ace held Nightshade's head, soothing her. The drugs would wear off soon, and they would see how the procedure went.  
  
*****  
  
Twenty five minutes later, she began to come around. Ace was holding her, trying to keep her calm. Cray had already hooked up the chair again, and now had a sedative on standby in case she should panic.  
  
"Ace, what's going on.. Ow, I have such a headache."  
  
He broke into a grin as he hugged her to his chest and kissed the top of her head.  
  
"What happened? Last thing I remember we were getting Nero out of the Matrix." She looked over and saw him standing guard by the window, full head of hair and an automatic weapon in his hands. "That must have been a while ago."  
  
"Is that all you can remember?" Ace asked.  
  
"Well, I also had a dream about being in an office building, and also being a reporter. Not a dream?" She asked at the look on Ace's face.  
  
"It's been five years. We were captured by the Nurse bots while trying to get Nero out. They put us back into the Matrix with fake memories. Phoenix managed to get me out about a month ago, and we've finally got you. Now we have to unplug you."  
  
She nodded in understanding as Phoenix walked over, handing her a red pill. She swallowed it with some water, and then was assisted to the chair.  
  
They were just getting her hooked up when Nero called out. "We have some police cars. Three of them headed this way. We need to hurry this up!"  
  
Several officers got out of the cars and began to approach the building. Armed with shotguns and their 9mm, they were clearly expecting a fight.  
  
The water had spread across her body when she heard the words "Their breaking in!" Then a chatter of gunfire followed, but by then she was fading from the Matrix.  
  
*****  
  
Warmth. Opening her eyes, she sighed as she knew what was coming up. She busted the skin of her cocoon and sat up, awaiting the inevitable.  
  
The hovering nurse bot appeared, grabbing her by the neck. It detached her neck cable, followed by the other cables popping off, and she was flushed from her pod. She slid down the tubes, hoping not to get stuck like Nero did, and finally splashed down in the nasty water, careful not to open her mouth.  
  
The claw cranked down and pulled her from the drainage. Pulling her up, she could only hope everyone escaped from the Matrix all right, especially Ace.  
  
*****  
  
Ace continued to fire on the incoming officers, hoping against hope that no Agents appeared. No one could fight off agents, the only thing you could do was run, and run quickly.  
  
Phoenix sent Cray home first. As a medic and hacker, he wasn't the most skilled with weapons. He disappeared and Phoenix set the phone back down. When the phone rang again, he told Nero to take it. While Ace was covering, he replaced the handset. It rang and he yelled for Ace to pick it up and go. Ace was busy with several officers, however, so Phoenix took the phone and placed it next to his ear, disappearing.  
  
Ace was reloading when three of the SWAT members broke into the room. He dropped his jammed weapon and attacked the first one. He rabbit punched him in the throat, then grabbed him to use as a shield when the other two SWAT opened fire. As the bullets impacted his body, Ace held the man's right arm out, which held his automatic. The nerve reaction made him pull the trigger, which shot the man on the right three times in the chest.  
  
Ace dropped the shield and rushed the last SWAT man. Running up towards him, he did a backflip, kicking out at him with both feet. He continued the flip and landed on his feet. The man bounced off the wall and came at him, just in time to catch a side kick to the neck, dropping him.  
  
A single shot rang out, and the phone on the desk shattered into so many pieces. Ace turned from his unconscious opponent to see who it was.  
  
It was an Agent.  
  
*****  
  
Sitting at the console, reading the code, Hex started cursing.  
  
"What is it?" Phoenix asked, coming over.  
  
"An Agent. Came out of nowhere and destroyed the hardline," She replied.  
  
"Send me back. He'll need my help," Nero said.  
  
"No. That's final." Phoenix knew that if Agents were involved, every member of the team in the Matrix was at risk. Nightshade trembled at the thought of loosing Ace.  
  
"Find him another exit. He'll need it."  
  
*****  
  
At the sight of the Agent, Ace did the only thing he could do.  
  
He ran.  
  
Bolting to the back room of the suite, he cursed the design of these rooms. The Agent blocked the only exit. His phone rang.  
  
"Yeah." He said, being ironically calm in the face of certain death.  
  
"To the right, bathroom. Left wall is thin plasterboard."  
  
He ran to the laundry, sure that the Agent was right behind him. Trusting that the information that Hex had given him was accurate, He threw himself at the wall with all his strength and broke through it.  
  
Coming out in the next room, he saw an older man making love to a girl young enough to be is daughter. Running past them, he ran into that room's bath, trusting the design to be the same.  
  
As he ducked into the room, gunfire hit the wall behind him. The young woman had turned into an Agent, firing at him. The man beneath him screamed in horror until he too turned into an Agent. They both got off the bed and scrambled after the rebel.  
  
Punching through another wall, Ace came out in what appeared to be a manager's office. He pushed through the screen door and ran down the flight of stairs faster than he's ever run before. He jumped the railing at the end and landed on the parking lot.  
  
Before him was a motorcycle, a high performance machine.  
  
Opening his phone, he was about to request hotwiring instructions for a motorcycle, but he already felt it flood into his synapses.  
  
"I already took care of it." Hex said, with a smirk in her voice.  
  
Jumping on the cycle, he hot-wired it in under 4 seconds, and off he went. Behind him, an Agent walked out of the screen door. Taking a look at the fleeing rebel, he abandoned his body. A teenaged punk was standing at the door, confused, when the manager came up behind him with a baseball bat.  
  
*****  
  
She looked over the code, trying to find the best way for him to get out of there. A motorcycle in the parking lot seemed the most likely prospect, and Ace apparently agreed with her as he was heading towards it. Anticipating his need, she quickly began to load a hotwiring program for him just as he began to ask for it. He was racing off on the motorcycle when she saw the most likely exit.  
  
"Ace, turn left at the next intersection. There's a drycleaners there on the right. The desk phone is the exit."  
  
He swerved the motorcycle and headed towards the street.  
  
*****  
  
Ace raced across 3 lanes of traffic and took a quick left, cars careening to avoid him at all costs. He swerved to avoid one car that was racing towards him, an Agent behind the wheel. Racing onto the street, he veered onto the sidewalk and jumped off the bike while it was still going, running into the drycleaners.  
  
*****  
  
The motorcycle continued to race down the sidewalk, people jumping out of the way. It crashed into a car that had pulled to a stop, an Agent about to get out. The tank of the cycle ruptured, exploding and taking the car and agent with it.  
  
*****  
  
The phone on the desk rang and the bored attendant reached for it just as a madman raced into the front door, ripping the phone from her hand. He placed it to his ear just as she began to feel dizzy, quickly turning into an Agent. Raising his gun, he fired, hitting only empty air.  
  
*****  
  
Sitting up as the plug was pulled from his skull, Ace turned and headed towards the medical bay. Inside, Nightshade was wrapped in a blanket, her pale skin shivering. Her muscles were not quite as bad off as Aces had been, and with a little work she would be fine. He sat beside her and she wrapped her arms around him in relief.  
  
*****  
  
Epilogue:  
  
"We're in." Nightshade hung up the phone. Dressed in a tight leather top and a black miniskirt, two small Israeli made Uzi's in her hands, she turned towards her team.  
  
Ace in his tattered army trench coat, his two handguns at the ready. He smiled at her reassuringly.  
  
Phoenix in a leather trench, black dress shirt with dress pants, a shotgun in his hands. He was nothing but cool confidence.  
  
Nero in a leather bomber jacket, elbows faded with wear. He was carrying a large automatic rifle with an extended clip. His eyes scanned for any dangers.  
  
Twip, wearing a dress coat with a white dress shirt and black pants. He was carrying a weapon he dreamed up in the construct. It had two barrels and a large central ammo drum. It looked as though it belonged on a helicopter.  
  
"Let's go kick some ass." Nero said, hefting his rifle. As a team, they walked out.  
  
*****  
  
Authors note: Well, there it is. I assume if you are reading this, you've read the whole story and hopefully liked it. It is my first posted fanfiction, and most of the Feedback I've received from it has been glowing. I am planning on doing a sequel, concerning the further adventures of the Crew of the Chimera, tentatively called "Otherworlds." I will begin it shortly, possibly even tomorrow if the Audience clamors for more.  
  
Some claimed that this story originally seemed to follow the plot of the matrix, a so-called "Mary sue". I hope that this has proven not to be the case as the overall plot involved a rescue mission to reclaim a lost love, which has been my intent from the very start. I enjoyed writing this story, and feedback is the fuel for creative fire, so keep the fires burning!  
  
Draconious 


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